Lisa Millegan: Australian reporter

  Launceston, Australia
Saturday, March 29, 2008

I got my first overseas byline this week. When I visited the Examiner newspaper, a 30,000-circulation daily here, I expected to just observe and listen. Oh no.

My arch enemy: Examiner reporter Rachel Williams

Reporter Rachel Williams, who I was shadowing, had other ideas in mind. She brought me to a press conference in which a local politician announced the appointment of a gallery director to head an arts commission. When it was over, with no particular warning, she handed me the tape recording of the interview and the press release and told me to write up a 20-centimeter story. It was a little tricky since I didn't know some of the terms but I put something together. After the editor "Australianized" it, it ended up in the paper. The headline was "Summit to give a voice to Bass." I'm still not exactly sure what "Bass" is.

I've also had the chance to explore the wilderness. Earlier this week, Pepperbush Adventures took our team on an evening bush excursion.

Out in the bush

The owner and his wife drove us out to a shack in the middle of nowhere and then cooked us up a gourmet feast on a barbecue grill. I'm talking appetizers, fresh fish, fresh kangaroo meat (which I declined as a vegetarian) and lots of beer and wine.

Feast at bush adventure

After the sun went down, they gave us hand spotlights that we could flash to see the wildlife. We ended up seeing kangaroos, quolls (kind of a cross between a cat and a squirrel) and wombats. It rained the whole time and it was chilly but none of us minded because we were having so much fun.

Getting ready to climb trees

I also surprised myself by swinging between the trees with Hollybank Treetops Adventures. Yes, I and most of the other team members were crazy enough to strap on harness equipment and slide across cables hung between trees up to 90 feet tall! You travel from "cloud station" to "cloud station" getting an eagles'-eye view. It's basically like traveling on a ski lift except you're alone on a kind of swing. Amazingly, I never saw my life flash before my eyes. It was actually pretty relaxing. The guides do a good job of making you feel comfortable and they let you practice sliding on the cables low to the ground before you get up in the air.

Hollybank Treetops Adventure

Finally, I saw a community theater production of the musical "Blood Brothers," which I have never seen before. It's the story of twins separated at birth with one brother going to a rich family and another going to a poor family. It was good with some strong performances. It reminded me a lot of the shows I've seen at Playhouse Merced because the actors were about the same talent level and the theater was about the same size - 300 seats with stadium seating. An even better production was "Les Miserables," which I saw in Hobart in southern Tasmania two weeks ago. I would say that was in the top tier of any local productions I've seen in my five years as a theater reviewer.

Well, talk to you next week. Until then, check out the other blog entries from my teammates.